The moon was full last week so I set up my camera and took this picture. It's part of some research I'm doing on a new painting: a bird standing on a staircase on a narrow street in the night.
Wil and I saw this bird, it was a magpie. Something must have been wrong. Why would a wild bird just be standing there in the dark? This was in Gerona, in the medieval quarters. We were staying in a hotel at the top of the town, a stone building from the 1700's. There were 3 large churches nearby that rang every hour. No, they rang every quarter hour, each one. First you would hear a low burrrrrr. Then the bells would toll. Then the next church, then the next. All night long.
To have a coffee or eat a meal, we had to go to the bottom of the town, 164 steps. Wil counted them. First down one winding narrow street, then we would walk along that street till we came to another narrow alley leading downward. After our meal we would climb up again in the dark. On one of those nights we saw the magpie. All part of this mysterious place.
Years later, I gushed over the beauty of Gerona to my sister and her husband and they went there. I forgot that her husband has really bad knees. They weren't too keen on the stairs.
1 comment:
My first reaction was astonishment and awe at the beauty of this image. My second, was envy!
My third was wondering how you knew it was a magpie. Do they have them in Brooklyn? I had to go look them up on the internet!
And lastly,after fleeting thoughts about wanting to go back to Spain, I just wanted the painting-to-be!
I wonder is that what happens to people when they get tired....willingness to settle (or even preference) for a painting rather than travel?
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